The science of why the sun makes us feel so happy
After a bleak winter spent predominantly indoors, time in the sunshine has never felt so good – but why is a mini heatwave so good for us?
Are you happiest with some sun on your skin?
Step outside and what is the first thing that you notice? Maybe it’s the reuniting of friends and family sat chatting happily in the park, or the cheery chirping of the birds. But one thing that everyone seems to have in common when the sun s out is a good mood.
The recent warm weather and sunny spells have conveniently coincided with the gentle easing of lockdown restrictions, and the latest bank holiday weekend. After months of being stuck inside our homes during one of the bleakest winters on record, and the shocking we weather in May, this mini heatwave is just what the doctor ordered.
Seasonal Affective Disorder Isnât Just for Winter
Feeling blue even though everyone seems to be basking in perfect summer weather? There might be a good reason for that.
Credit.Jo Zixuan Zhou
June 1, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET
This is what happens to the Earth during summer: Tilted about 23.5 degrees, it arrives at a place in its orbit where the Northern Hemisphere leans toward the sun. This is what happens in Wisconsin during summer: People go outside, maybe to picnics or parks, to barbecues, on day trips, on summer vacation.
This is what happens to Kristen Ashly during summer: Depression descends like a heavy curtain. She skips picnics, day trips and vacations â the hot, humid days in central Wisconsin make her lethargic, yet also agitated, irritable and unable to sleep. By afternoon, she feels âlike a zombie.â
Why is May the Highest Month for Suicides?
agsandrew Getty Images/iStockphoto
The month of May is springâs overture when natureâs rebirth manifests in color, youth and vigor. Flowers reach full bloom. Trees leaf out. The soil, revitalized by winterâs slumber, pushes shoots of green toward the Sun. Our fellow animals conduct their daily tasks with renewed vigor, while the birds sing their lilting melodies. This riot of sensory delights is the coming out party for new life. And it heralds the peak season for suicides.
Contrary to conventional wisdom suggesting the dark, cold winter pushes many to a new emotional low, more people take their lives in spring than any other season, and May is often the worst month in this regard. This paradoxical phenomenon is global. Spring in the southern hemisphere exhibits the same troubling trend. In the United States and many other northern regions, December, when daylight tanks, usually records the fewest suicides, and January, in